TRURO - The wheels have been set in motion.
Truro Town Council, with the help of residents of Harris Avenue, Crowell Drive and surrounding streets, was able to put together some suggestions to look at to help cure flooding problems in that area of town during a meeting Tuesday at town hall.
"I'm happy that they're looking at it this time," said Harris Avenue resident Kevin Gromack, who petitioned council on the issue three years ago to no avail.
About 30 people attended the meeting, designed to listen to residents concerns about flooding in their area and formulate short and long term action plans to help alleviate the problems.
A similar meeting will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at town hall to discuss the Normandy Avenue, Park Street and North Street neighbourhood. There will also be a town-wide meeting Nov. 6 at Truro Fire Hall.
The meetings were initiated after a pair of severe floods hit Truro last month when the area saw a record rainfall of about 350mm.
Ward 2 Coun. Brian Kinsman said he was happy with the progress made at Tuesday's meeting.
"We got some good feedback from the public and we had a good turnout," he said. "We've got some good actions to move forward with."
Some of those are to look into what impact the recently built Truro Elementary School is having on the area. Several residents insisted at Tuesday's meeting they've never experienced problems with water on their properties until the school was constructed.
It was also suggested the town could work with the Department of Education to put a water retention pond on the bottom part of the school property on the corner of Abbey Avenue and Clifton Court. The town is also interested in speaking with the department on just what is being done for water retention on the property.
The town will also be looking at adding curbing to the area streets and improving ways of keeping water from pouring into the back yards of properties on Harris Avenue, which is in somewhat of a valley between Mount Pleasant Boulevard and Crowell Drive.
"The area has been developed for so many years and the system hasn't been upgraded so the pipes fill up and aren't capable of handling the massive amount of water," Gromack said.
"It's overwhelming the existing storm water system," Kinsman said. "We wanted to come away from this meeting with some action items but we need to make sure it makes sense and that it's cost effective."
Gromack said area residents will be holding council to its commitment this time around.
"We're not going to let it go this time. I know I'm not," he said. "This time they're not going to forget us. It's been too much to handle and I just can't take it anymore. It's been a huge financial burden and a lot of stress."
